The 2020 Avengers video game will soon be snapped out of existence (at least digitally) as Square Enix has decided to pull the plug on the Marvel-themed online RPG loot game. 
The game was one of many blunders by the once-respected Japanese video game giant, with games like Forespoken and Babylon’s Fall. Even their flagship franchise, Final Fantasy, suffered blows with FF7: The First Solder, Strangers of Paradise:Â Final Fantasy Origin and Final Fantasy XVI all underperforming.
The 2020 Avengers game was originally being hyped up to be the next big Marvel experience in gaming, where players would get to experience an epic story playing as each of the six members of The Avengers from the 2012 film. However, they pulled a bait-and-switch to where you instead follow Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel as she “gets the band back together”.
The game received mixed to poor reviews due to its lackluster story, game mechanics and overall lack of content. Not to mention the severe backlash for making Spider-Man a PlayStation exclusive character.
The game’s sales were so underwhelming that Square reportedly lost around $50 Million. Some even blame the game for the poor sales of their follow-up game Guardians of the Galaxy, as their reputation for making Marvel-related games was tarnished.
The developers slowly released post-launch content until Square Enix sold their Western game development studios to The Embracer Group, which included the game’s developer Crystal Dynamics.
The dev team announced that they would be ending support for the game earlier this year with plenty of canceled pos-launch character DLC left on the cutting room floor.
Now, ahead of its delisting from online stores, the game, specifically the “Definitive Edition,” is being sold at a 90% discount on digital platforms for $3.99 until September 30th. All of the game’s content will still be playable for all those who bought the game in single-player. The game will still be available for players who buy a used physical copy for consoles. Note that all DLC will be unavailable afterward.
Hopefully, developers and publishers will learn a lesson from this and do their best not to make the same mistakes. You can’t sell a video game on an IP alone. It needs to have substance, plenty of content, and above all, be fun to play.
Source: IGN
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